A trip out (Je'gan, closed)

[Southstar]

A starship soared through hyperspace in the general direction of the Outer Rim, a planet called Kruthia to be exact. Aboard the ship was Southstar, his new apprentice, and two pilots.

The ship was coming from Nal Hutta, there Southstar had a meeting with a Hutt named Retga. The Hutt was offering a fair amount of credits for the head of a Kruthian named Jaros Detra. It seemed the Kruthian had managed to kill Retga's daughter four standard days from her marriage with another Hutt. Retga didn't know many of the details, or at least he didn't give Southstar them, but what he did say was that it was a bloodbath. There were at least a dozen guards present as well as a medicore bounty hunter and all exits were open, yet no one escaped.

The offer specified Sith, the bounty hunter failed to do any good in protecting the Retga's daughter, therefore Retga distrusted the bountry hunters for the moment, so he took the next best thing, a Sith looking for a few extra credits. Credits, however, was not the main reason Southstar agreed to kill this Jaros. His apprentice Je'gan needed to complete his training. To Southstar's knowledge, Je'gan had learned the basic fighting skill and Force skills at the Order under Oolana Taine, it was time to test them.

Four hours remained before the ship would exit hyperspace and they would come to Kruthia to do the deed they had been hired to do. Southstar had spent the past hour alone in his private quarters allowing his mind to think rapidly about the possibilities and dangers they may encounter on the planet. He had done a little research on the planet and found that it was currently at war with the neighboring planet, Osidian. It seemed the conflict was hundreds of years old but the New Republic as well as the Old had always interviened preventing either side from exterminating the other. It was likely that the two Sith would become involved in some way in the war, but Southstar would do his best to avoid it. On the subject of the soon to be dead man Jaros Detra, Southstar found not much. After the slaughter of the Hutt's daughter he seemed to have disappeared for a short time. Then it showed that he had begun helping the Kruthians in the war. That was all he knew.

Southstar called Je'gan to his room via telepathy. Hopefully Je'gan had enough experience with it to understand Southstar was calling him. Perhaps Je'gan would surprise him and respond back.

"Take a seat." He said and Je'gan did as Southstar commanded.

With the Force Southstar shut the door and then turned back to Je'gan. "I'm going to ask your opinion on something, feel free to express it and hold nothing back." Southstar said and then proceded to give the information about the warring planets.

According to legend, the Osidians had started it nearly 1200 years ago over the issue of who would control the mines on the moons of another planet in the system, a gas giant. The war started on the moons but grew until each species had begun invading each other's planets. Several times both the Osidians and the Kruthians nearly conquored the other planet. The Jedi and the Old Republic had often stepped in to ensure that neither species was completely dominated by the other. To the Jedi, it didn't seem fair that one planet should be slave to another.

"With this information tell me why you think the conflict has not resolved itself. Why do these planets continue to fight?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Revenge on a personal level," Je'gan answered instantly. "They've been fighting for so long that the original cause of the war is irrelevant. The people fight because of friends and family killed during the war, not because of who is right or who is wrong." The young man smiled grimly. "It's a common pattern in localized wars all the way through history." He hesitated for a moment, but after all, Southstar had instructed him to hold nothing back...

Je'gan hoped his new Master was prepared for another one of his pet theories.

"And that's why the Light and the Dark fight as they do," he finished softly. "On our hands: the Sith Wars, the Purges, and our own Order's aggression. On theirs: the forced altering of attitudes among their students, and the death of countless Darksiders. Not to mention those elements that actively hunt down our kind, and the higher-ups that turn a blind eye to it.

"Such tragedies as Ruusan, as well, that are equally the fault of the Jedi and the Sith.

"To summarize, I suppose. There have been far too many deaths on both sides for Dark and Light to ever fully coexist, even notwithstanding the differnces in ideology."

[Southstar]

"Good. You've identified the source of the conflict, and also brought it to make a point that is relative to you and I."

"Now, this conflict has been a problem for centuries. Both the Osidians and Kruthians have had several oppertunities to overtake the other and end this bloody war, but the Jedi and the Old Republic have prevented 'mass genocide' and neither side has won. The Jedi interfere with things they aren't meant to, they step in 'in defense of life' and looks what its done. The people keep fighting for the reasons you mentioned and the conflict has grown out of control. Do you understand what are curse the Jedi are?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"What the Jedi did was the epitome of stupidity," Olra'en replied, a brief smile flitting across his lips at the involuntary wordplay. "It's simple enough to predict what will happen if you know trends. They didn't bother to conduct any sort of analysis, to determine the ratios involved; how many have died in the past one-point-two milennia, versus how many would have died had they not intervened, that sort of thing. I'd be willing to bet that over a millennium of warfare has killed more people and damaged more property than just letting the war come to its conclusion would have done.

"It's probable, too, that left to itself the war would have ended soon enough. By stepping in every now and again, the Republic let the chess game continue but gave back all the pieces that had been taken.

"There's another problem with what they did. By letting whichever side was losing get back to an even footing with it's foe, the two societies now have no sense of consequences for their actions. If you enter a war and you aren't strong enough to carry the day, you will in all likelihood lose, and you have to take responsability for that." He winced, remembering his encounters with such high-level Darksiders as Cherice St. Hilare, Jared Mriad and especially Sorsha Kasajian. More, how he'd always rushed in to fight those more powerful than himself.

"That part of the equation has been written out by Jedi intervention. The two societies don't know what it means to lose, and that's a cultural blind spot a klick wide. I'm surprised that twelve hundred years haven't yielded encounters with other cultures who'd wipe the slate clean in the contested star system, simply by using that blindness to their advantage.

"Causing far more deaths than simply letting it alone would.

"Making the interference misguided, simple-minded and totally blind.

"Combine that with power...I think I agree with you, Master. They are a curse."

[Southstar]

Southstar smiled, "Indeed they they are. You see, they think they know better than everyone else, that they know what is best. If they ran the galaxy unchecked, there would be no concept of privacy. Soon enough they'll be reading minds for a hint of bad thought."

"We human beings have the right to privacy in all issues except those concerning the Order, or Empire if you want to go back a little."

Southstar changed the subject a little to make a point, "Now, there are three things in our lives that matter, going from highest down: The Force, the Order and yourself."

"The Force is everything, reality. Force users have a connection to it like no other. We are just as powerful as the Force, if we allow ourselves to be. Force users are destined to be the masters of reality, or everything."

"The Order is a union of Force users, all members are equal to each other and greater than anyone outside the Sith Order. Even other dark side groups are not as great as we are."

"And you, yourself. Do as you please as long as it doesnt harm the Order, or degrade the Force."

"Can you see how all three complement each other? How it makes sense?" Southstar didn't need to explain how it made sense, Je'gan needed to see it on his own. When people are taught something, they don't believe it as much as if they were to realize it themselves. If Je'gan didn't understand, that was fine, he would get it in time.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

If he'd bothered, Je'gan would have nodded; it did seem to make a sort of sense. The concept of having the power to control reality was nothing new to him, but briefly he toyed with his Master's views of a hierarchy.

"It works."

[Southstar]

"It is the best way." He said "Now, you are old enough to develope your own thoughts and ideas, what makes you a dark sider and not a light sider?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"It's not so much Dark versus Light, it's more an indicator of the various institutions available. I have no problem with using the Light Side of the Force, I merely have a problem with Jedi ideals, and of course the Jedi are the only major Light Side institution.

"For me, I'm not out to get in anyone's way unless they get in mine. Jedi won't take preemptive and necessary action, and that's one strike against them. The other is that they constantly seek to get in the way of others.

"Those are pretty much the only reasons I can think of off-hand why I'm a Darksider."

[Southstar]

"Yes, the division isn't in the Force, the force is one, but rather in the motives that drive the people. The Jedi are motivated only after there is a first strike, but that is not what makes them 'lightsiders'. What seperates the 'light' from the 'dark' is the light are motivated by their surroundings and we are motivated by ourselves." Southstar said and then asked a question.

"Who is right?" Je'gan had to respond correctly, Southstar wasn't sure he had a full grip on the Sith philosophy, yet.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Us, of course. The Dark Side. Being self-motivated is crucial to success in anything."

[Southstar]

"Yes it is." He said and nodded his head. "But what should be done to those who don't believe the correct thing? Those who believe against us, the Jedi. If we are superior to normal beings, we are gods in a sense, then should there be sucha division between us Force users?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"If they don't believe as we do," the Sithling responded, "I'll make every effort to teach them. If they won't learn, that's fine so long as they stay out of my way. If they won't stay out of my way, then I'll keep them out of my way in one manner or another."

[Southstar]

Personally, Southstar thought that someone should kill every Jedi in the galaxy. Bu thtat wasn't fair towards someone so close to equal with the darksiders.

"Teach them, that's a positive outlook." He said "I'm not sure they're able to be taught the truth." Southstar stood up now and watched the blue-white lines of hyperspace fade into the blackness of space. Their destination hung in the balckness sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Kruthia." Southstar said. "I don't expect it to be long before we set down. Go make sure you have everything ready to go, we don't need to be screwing around for a few hours after we set down. Let's do this and leave." Southstar thought for a moment to make sure everything he needed was in place.

"Je'gan, do you have a lightsaber of your own?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"'Of my own'? I've got Kurai, the lightsaber Jedi Master Capashen used as a Sith warrior. It serves me well enough."

[Southstar]

"It will serve you well for the time being, but you need to construct your own." Southstar said as the pilots in the ship made contact with the ground crew on Kruthia. "A lightsaber is more than a weapon, it is an extension of yourself. You cannot have an extension of yourself made by another now can you?"

Before Je'gan could answer one of the pilots came back and burst through the door. "Sir, they're not letting us set down on the surface."

"Do they have any idea who we are?" Southstar asked.

"They do sir, I informed them the were preventing a craft of the Sith Order from setting down."

Southstar shook his head, "Idiots. I swear, they just don't know what's best for them." Southstar said about the Kruthians and then with the Force caused the pilot to pass out. "Come." He said to Je'gan as they headed to the cabin.

Southstar opened the door and told the captain to move from his seat. Before he did ,the pilot protested and informed Southstar that there were several Kruthian ships heading their way.

"I'll handle it. You shall take the copilots seat. Je'gan you man the guns. Show them no mercy." As Southstar finished speaking to Je'gan six kruthian ships approached the Sith ship firing their guns. Southstar rolled the craft and broke from the course with that lead to Kruthia. Sure enough the fighters passed by, circled around and began to fire on their tail.

"60 percent shield power to the back." Southstar said to the expilot. Meanwhile Je'gan had better be at the guns firing back.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Nodding to the older Sith, Je'gan dashed back through the vessel's corridors, to where he'd recently spied a gunwell. He reached inside the narrow tube and grabbed a rung of the ladder, then swung himself up and into the bubble itself.

He took quick stock of what he had to work with; a Dolana Tech triple-barrelled cannon on a hemisphere mount. Not a design he was familiar with. Sourly he reminded himself that he wasn't terribly familiar with any starship-scale weaponry.

Fire rocked the ship as he took his seat and strapped in. The six fighters seemed to be content to attack from the rear, a cowardly if effective strategy.

Tapping a few buttons that he guessed to be calibrators, Je'gan gripped the fire control joystick at the side of his seat and opened fire. He wasn't terribly accurate, but it was the work of a moment to strafe the formation from side to side. The last fighter faltered, and he focused his fire on that one, blowing it out of the sky with a set of rapid linked shots.

The Kruthians were learning, though. They drew back somewhat farther and spread out, making it far harder for him to hit them with his inexpert handling of the guns. Submersing himself in the Force, he managed to blow a wing off a second fighter, which withdrew flaming.

Two out of six...at the rate at which the shields were beginning to flicker, that wasn't nearly good enough. Je'gan clamped down on the firing button and began spraying single shots wildly over the fighters' attack vectors. He wasn't aiming in the slightest, leaving his mind more or less open to other activities.

The Force swallowed him, and he tried something he hadn't considered before; an illusion. Not a broad-scale, which was far beyond his limited Alter Mind skills, but simply an implanted thought. He bulled his way into the mind of the foremost pilot and sent the image of shots coming from behind him, then opened his eyes.

It had worked. The fighter jinked and swerved to the side, actually getting clipped by one of its wingmates' cannons for good measure. Smiling grimly if haggardly, Je'gan repeated the process with a second pilot, this time implanting a stronger image.

He switched the pilot's awareness of the Sith transport and a third wingmate, and though he was using up his Force resources at an alarming rate, he held it. A good five seconds passed by, and then he stopped and opened his eyes again.

Of the five fighters, one continued to limp away at half power, one had been destroyed, and two were seriously confused in their flying. Only one was dogged, still shooting accurately at the transport. Relying on chance and the targeting computer, Je'gan strafed the two confused flyers into inactivity and focused on the single dangerous man.

This one was tricky and good with his controls, avoiding the Sithling's amateur fire completely. Meanwhile he continued to pelt the transport.

"Master!" Je'gan yelled. "Shatter his canopy!"

[Southstar]

Southstar wasn't the greatest pilot, but this was a situation he could handle. Southstar took the ship up and down while barking orders to the copilot. The rear shields had to be kept up, even if they lost the front.

Although his primary objective at the moment was to avoid or destroy all the enemy space crafts, Southstar was doing his best to get the ship to Kruthia. He had a bad feeling about any future events that may happen. Plus, on the planet they would have a better shot at survival, Southstar was a better combat fighter than pilot.

Je'gan was handling the enemy fighters well enough, although it could use improvment. One by one the pilots of the fighters were dead or disabled and the Sith craft was approaching the planetary defenses of Kruthia. [i]Damn, I hadn't thought of that.[i] Southstar said in reference to the defenses.

Je'gan called something to him, Southstar wasn't sure what it was, but he got the general idea of what Je'gan wanted. The fighter was creeping up towards the front of the Sith craft, a well placed shot would disable it right there. Southstar leaned back in his chair as the copilot took control of the ship. Southstar felt the mind of the enemy pilot, a distant glow. That little spark began to dim as Southstar caused brain cells to die in the Kruthians mind. It was a new trick he had learned with Salem Ave back at the order, one that required more concentration that usual. But it was still effective.

The fighter swerved and eventually crashed intot he rear shields knocking them out, but the danger of Kruthian fighters was gone. Now only the planetary defenses remained.

"Full speed, devote all power to increasing our speed." Southstar said to the copilot and he took the controls. Due to Osidian being on the other side of Kruthia, the planet did not have shields, but hundreds of outposts loaded with concussion missles still stood guard to stop any unwanted visiters.

"je'gan, there are going to be several missles on our tail in a few seconds. Shoot as many of them down as possible, run to the cockpit when you can't knock out anymore." Southstar said over the speaker. The ship soared through space on a collision course with Kruthia. The ship was already doomed, being able to use it to get back was definitely out of the question. All they had to do was make it to the surface alive and concious enough to run as soon as an investigation team came.

"Come on Je'gan, don't mess this up." Southstar said under his breath.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The platforms opened fire slightly before the freighter sped through their ranks, those few within range vomiting forth two or three missiles apiece. The missiles were far faster than the freighter, and any reaction would have to be extremely fast.

The computer bleeped with twenty-two different fire warnings as Je'gan targeted and fired with the speed of desperation. With help from the Force and the computer he burned three from the sky before they'd completed their turns to follow the freighter. The rest matched vectors with the Sith craft and accelerated. Je'gan bit his lip and opened fire back along that vector, pouring a continuous streak of plasma into the ranks of oncoming warheads. An expanding cloud of plasma marked the deaths of well over half of them.

But six-no; he'd miscounted, seven warheads were still incoming, and all on different vectors. His wild spray of cannon fire turned into a focused search-and-destroy effort that vaped an additional two. The shields should be able to take five impacts from the low-grade weapons, but he didn't want to risk it. Still...he was out of time. A quick shot, more by instinct than aim, reduced that to four incoming missiles. With Force-enhanced speed he shot down the tunnel to the main corridor, and joined Southstar in the cockpit.

[Southstar]

Je'gan came running into the cockpit as the Sith craft began entering the atmosphere of Kruthia. The ship began to shake, it felt like it was falling apart even. Without the shields to take some of the impact Southstar wasn't sure if they were going to make it.

An impact rattled the ship even more and the lights on the board flickered, but stayed on. Two more nearly shook the ship apart and the fourth impact cause parts of the ship to break off.

"Shut that door and seal it!" Southstar shouted to Je'gan. Hopefully he would be smart enough to use his lightsaber to melt the metal and prevent any air from escaping the cokpit and causing a depressurization.

They had passed through the atmosphere but were now in a free fall towards the surface. The ship was done for now and the only hope of survival was to use the Force. Southstar created a bubble of safety around the ramaining ship, which was just the cockpit.

"Hang on." He said and only moments later the cockpit crashed through some trees and then into the ground. As it skid through the dirt Southstar lost the force bubble and went into unconsiousness. The copilot had failed to hang on tightly enough and was upside-down in the corner with blood coming from his head. Southstar had failed to see what the status of Je'gan was, likely unconsiuous as well. Hopefully they would awaken soon because there were Kruthian police coming to investigate the crash.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Shut that door and seal it!" his Master shouted, and in the blink of an eye Je'gan acted. One hand shot out behind him, punching the door controls hard enough that a small trickle of blood came from Je'gan's knuckle. The other snatched Kurai, and it's dead grey blade ignited, scything quick lines up one side of the door and down the other. He only hoped that the molten metal hadn't weakened the door too badly.

He gripped the back of a chair and levered himself in. Through the red haze that inscribed a rough circle around his field of view, he could begin to make out individual treetops. With shaking hands he closed the restraints, sat back-

And felt his face go instantly pale as he realized that he hadn't heard a click.

His hands whipped down to the buckle once more, but too late. The ground slapped the ship's underside hard, and he felt himself rising into the air. He was being propelled forward by the invisible fist of his own inertia.

The restraint saved him from hitting the canopy headfirst; it was still gripped in his left hand, and he hung on for dear life. His path turned, and he let go to avoid his arm being ripped from its socket. He hit the transparisteel with shoulder and hip, blacking out as his neck whiplashed into the unyielding surface.

[Southstar]

A dream of when he was younger entered his mind. Memories of his dying homeworld as the invading forces from the neighboring system began to burn homes and kill harmless citizens. A young girl, his own age at the time, saying things without sound. Nothing had sound and soon the picture faded as well.

He was talking to himself now. trying to recall what happened. Once he realized they had crashed he snapped his eyes open and sat up. He looked at Je'gan who had yet to wake up. Things were not going so well, and they were about to get a lot worse.

The door Je'gan had seal was being cut open, likely by the Kruthian security forces. Southstar barely managed to stand up and activate his lightsaber, the whole world seemed to be spinning entirely to fast. He looked at the door as it was kicked in and several Kruthians invaded and began to shoot at Southstar. SHe thought tyo himself of the possible outcomes of losing the short battle with the police forces, likely they would wind up in jail, possibly executed before they woke up, in all honesty Southstar didn't know.

He told himself that it was extremel yimportant that he hold the police off long enough to get Je'gan and find somewhere to hide out and get their bearings together. He allowed the Force to flood his distorted senses and deflected a few shots but it wasn't long at all until one made it through and sent him back into a coma, uncertain of where they would end up next.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The sound of blaster fire woke the younger Sith; he twitched but remained stationary. A quick mental inventory told him that any attempt at moving would be slow and terribly uneffective. Still, his Master was being attacked...

He tried and failed to stand-even to move-as a cessation of the barrage told him that the fight had ended. Slowly his head onched around, and he found himself staring out between the pilot's and copilot's chairs. Southstar was visible on the deck, and armoured troops were beginning to swarm in.

Je'gan waited, very still, until the ranks pressed close enough, all the while manipulating a slider on the side of Kurai's haft. They came within two metres and his arm lanced out, plunging the now doubly long blade into a trooper's stomach. The mna went down with a horrible scream, and he saw blaster muzzles raised towards him. The lightsaber swept sideways, cutting down another two right through their armour-

The world went red, and he lost himself.

[Southstar]

Southstar blinked a few times before holding his eyelids open and looking at the ferrocrete ceiling. His vision focused and he turned his head to see that he was in a holding cell, alone.

He stood up and walked over to the small window that gave him a view of the corridor that connected the cells together. Aside from one more holding cell across from his, Southstar couldn't see anything at all.

He stepped away from the wondow and used the Force to push on the door, but it didn't give. He swore and hit the door as hard as he could. He reached around his belt to find his lightsaber, but realized it was gone, as were any other weapons he had on him. He walked back to the bench he had just been laying on and sat down.

He called to Je'gan with the Force, "Je'gan, I'm expecting you to open my door with my lightsaber in hand within the next twenty minutes."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Groggily, the Sith apprentice raised himself on his elbows, and began to take stock.

The first thing was the room. Cold and rough, with bars figuring prominently in the decorating scheme, it was obviously some primitive race's attempt at constructing a prison.

The second thing was himself. As far as he could tell, he was suffering from multiple bruises and lacerations. A five-minute warmup both cleared his head and verified that he had a full range of motion-well, almost full. His right shoulder was aching nastily, and an attempt at raising it over his head caused him to wince. As far as the Force went, he was at full strength. His mind was alert and ready.

Southstar's presence flashed through his head, followed closely by a message. He gritted his teeth as he approached the door. This was not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

He considered checking the room for monitoring devices, but settled with a quick visual scan. Even though he didn't particularly care about his newest Master's time limit, there wasn't time to spare. Lacking knowledge of anything outside this room, and lacking weapons, his escape would have to depend entirely on speed.

Which, thanks to pretty much constant practise, was something that he had in large quantities.

He glanced through the feeding-slot, taking in the details of a door across from him. The hinges were not entirely visble, being set in the concrete, but it gave him a general idea of where to start.

Telekinesis was definitely one of his weaker abilities, but it didn't take a whole lot of power for a simple Force push. Granted, he doubted that it would have knocked over a non-Forcer, but that was over a large area. By narrowing his area of concentration, he was able to achieve a rather powerful pulverizing effect. This was helped by one of the more useful tricks he'd picked up by observation; making things explode.

Weak it might have been overall, barely worthy of an Apprentice, but it succeeded in shattering the concrete around where he guessed a hinge to be. Chips flew and he shielded his eyes, continuing until the gleam of bare metal shone through.

That was one; he was tiring slightly and he still had to do another. This time it was easier as he quickly searched for stress lines and flaws, making his detonations faster and more efficient. Both hinges were now fully visible.

He stepped back and assumed a solid stance, then drove a full-power kick into the metal. A gong-like sound caused him to cover his ears, and another right after it. The door had jarred loosed and fallen into the hall. Hard.

Taking a deep breath, he raced around the corner and down the hall. He didn't have the slightest clue where to begin, so one direction was as good as any. This direction was the luckier, too. The other way, as shouts manifested, had been the corridor guardpost. A few delayed blaster shots zinged over his shoulder as he rounded another corner.

He stopped instantly, listening to the running footsteps while creating little tap-taps of his own with one of his boots. The guard wasn't stupid-he heard the difference. After a moment the approaching steps' pace slowed to a careful walk.

Enhancing his speed through his connection to the Force, Je'gan stepped back and jumped into a foot-first spin. He entered the corridor at an angle, 'touched down' on the opposite wall, and lashed out with a blind, spinning kick as he fell. His head connected hard with the floor, but it was echoed by the guard's.

They were both lying prone, with a blaster between them. Faster than the other man by fractions of a second, Je'gan snatched it and pumped a stunshot into the guard's face. Critically he examined the weapon; it seemed as if stun was it's only setting, for safety in case a prisoner got his hands on it. He chuckled hollowly and got to his feet.

The hall yielded another set of turns, which he didn't bother to think about. There wasn't much point in it. By chance he came to something like a central comman node; a wide-angle shot put down most of those present before an alarm was struck. A few more ensured that he got peace and quiet.

He tapped into a logged-in workstation, and accessed prisoner transfer records, hoping for a side note to pop up. Nothing so easy; it took a decent ten minutes to track down Southstar-by description-and locate the necessary storage space. He memorized the lefts and rights, then set off.

Part-way there an alarm went off. He had to resort to Teras Kasi to take out his next obstacle, narrowly escaping when his pistol clicked empty. The encounter yielded a fresh weapon. He cursed himself for not having taken a weapon from the control room.

The door came up soon enough, but he couldn't open it; the lock was an electronic keypad that needed a specific code. Frustrated, he resorted to 'that little trick' again, blasting rubble away from the hinges until the door keeled over. Mental fatigue was dragging at him, but he proceeded to resolutely sift through the mountains of confiscated material until he found both Kurai and Southstar's lightsaber.

Unfortunately, he was still left with ranks of mobilized guard to get through, and the lightsabers didn't help a whole lot with that. The wide-angle stun beams couldn't be deflected. He buckled both weapons to his belt and headed back to his and Southstar's cells. Only a few choice mind tricks and the total depletion of two more low-charge blasters got him back to the corridor intact.
He knocked politely before cutting the hinges from his Master's door with Southstar's blade, and levering it out to slap the top of his own door loudly. The alarm continued to blare as he held out the now-deactvated haft to Southstar.

"Forty minutes. Oops." Neither his face nor his tone displayed any regret whatsoever.

[Southstar]

Southstar moved his eyes from the ceiling, he was laying down, to the door. The door was being demolished by a navy blue lightsaber blade, likely his own. His eyes faced the ceiling again and he took in a deep breath and exhaled as the door fall inwards making much noise.

"Fourty Three minutes and thirty nine seconds, actually." He siad and sat up and called his lightsaber to his hand from Je'gan's. "I said twenty. Come here."

Je'gan did as Southstar commanded while Southstar ignighted his lightsaber and began to slowly cut a hole in the ferrocrete wall. It was taking longer than Southstar wanted it to, the wall had about a foot of durasteel in it as well followed by more ferrocrete. Totally, it was a three foot wall leading to the outside and Southstar would need about ten to fifteen minutes to cut a hole big enough for the two to escape.

"There are guards coming." He said to his apprentice. "Hold them off until I'm done. It won't be long." Southstar was unsure if Je'gan would be able to hold of all of the guards for the next few moments, but even if he couldn't Southstar would be able to handle it.

A tiny explosion happened outside the broken doorway, the guards had fired a canister and now smoke poured from it and into the room. Two more explosions happened and the smoke became very dense. He called on the Force to sustain his body so he didn't have to breathe as much.

"Handle it, Je'gan." Southstar ordered as his vision became a little hazy.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The first canister impacted a hard surface, and at the sight of gas Je'gan drew a deep breath and held it. He reached for Kurai. Two more canisters joined the first.

"Handle it, Je'gan," Southstar ordered, but his Apprentice was already in action. The slider on the tri-phase lightsaber was already at maximum, bringing the third and longest blade into play. With unerring accuracy he depressed the activation switch, spearing one canister through the centre and incinerating the supply of gas. The other two weren't visble. As his vision was becoming obscured, he knelt just inside the door and placed the hilt on the ground. It spun from side to side, blade catching side-on the two canisters, which it turned out were relatively nearby.

He was forced now to take a breath, and instantly wished he hadn't. Even though no new gas was being pumped into their air supply, there was still plenty floating around, and he started to get a little queasy. There wasn't much he could do.

He shut the lightsaber off and placed the emitter against the wall about a meter beyond the door, where any ambusher might be hiding. He hit the activation switch and held the hilt against the recoil, trusting the Force. A piercing scream told him that his aim had been true.

[Southstar]

Cutting through the wall had taken less time than Southstar had thought it would. The cut was nearly complete and the timeing couldn't be better. More guards had arrived with stun guns prepared to take the Sith captive once more. Southstar brought his lightsaber to where the cut had begun and used the Force to push the chunck of wall outside and it fell into the water beneath.

"Time to go, Je'gan." He called back to his apprentice. Southstar crawled out the hole and took a deep breathe of fresh, clean air. He then leapt from the hole and fell into free fall as he plumeted towards the river below. Hopefully Je'gan would be behind him, soon to crash into the water as well.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan twisted the lightsaber hilt from side to side, but no further sounds resulted other than more sizzling. His attention, unfortunately, was focused; a guard had snuck up on the door from the other side, and had a clear shot at him.

Time stood still for a moment as his danger sense screamed, and he threw himself back, dropping Kurai in the process. The edge of the stun blast caught his outstretched left arm, making it instantly numb. He was falling...

The gun was tracking...

And Kurai was flying, switching to the efficient first phase and lopping the man's head off at the shoulders. Sickened by the blood-by the act-the Sith acolyte picked up the inert haft and, hearing the rush of water, powering it down entirely, dove out the hole after Southstar.

He hit the water cleanly, causing a midsize splash that soaked the now-surfaced Southstar. A stray branch caught him at the bottom and held him down. He chopped viciously at it with the foot that wasn't embedded in mud, and it gave, allowing him to rise from the half-opaque olive depths to swim beside his new Master.

"Where to now?" he said, risking a glance back over his shoulder to verify that the stunguns' ranges had been exceeded.

[Southstar]

It had been twelve hours since their encounter with the river. Luckily, they had dried off because right now they were in govenment office and it was hard to take two men drenched from the river seriously.

"Now hand me the papers." Southstar said to the clerk, who was under the control of Southstar. The clerk did as he was told and he took the papers and began to walk out with his apprentice. "Birth records, home address, medical history, hell, we even have the adresses of his relatives." Southstar said as he flipped through the papers. Then he came across a paper dated recently.

He readover it for a moment then spoke, "It says our man has entered offically into the war, drafted." Southstar wasn't sure whether or not Jaros was out on the frontline fighting, but he didn't like the idea of going there to find out. He scanned through some more military papers and found out that Jaros had been accounted for on the frontlines, it even listed where.

The best plan he could come up with was to go to the frontlines and to kill the man, like planned. But the frontlines was not somwhere he wanted to be. Especially not with the month long ceasefire, it was sure to break soon.

The sun had gone down now and Southstar and Je'gan were in front of a military supply center. The plan was to get in and swipe some uniforms along with anything else that might convince anyone that they were part of the Kruthian army.

"Lead the way Je'gan." He said to his apprentice. Je'gan was approaching knight level, he should be capable of leading an attack on a small military supply center.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He nodded grimly in response, flexing his hand to remove the last traces of weariness it felt from the stun shot. "Right..."

Abandoning any sort of consideration for 'style', he cooly weighed his options. A front-on attack would attract attention, but here that didn't mean much. It would get them in, fast. It should impress Southstar.

Within five minutes, dressed in the clothes of a local, Je'gan slouched to the front door and opened it. A brief assessment told him that two soldiers were present. The man on duty looked up, frowned, and put a hand to the handle of a gun.

"This is a restricted area, bub," he said semi-professionally but not without sympathy. "Can't come in here."

"Sorry," Je'gan mumbled, shuffling a bit closer. "Got lost and...yeah." He ran a hand through hair that he'd sprinkled liberally with dirt and twigs. "Saw a guy that looked like one of the ones on the holovids. You know, the, mm, Seeth."

"Sith," the guard corrected. "How sure are you that it was the same man?"

"Not very," Je'gan admitted. "But he kinda had the same look, and he sure felt funny."

The guard had made a signal, and his partner joined them from behind a desk. "I see...when did this happen?"

"'Bout four this afternoon, just before the speeder broke down."

"Where were you? What did this man look like?" The other man's voice wasn't quite so pleasent; Je'gan wouldn't feel too much remorse for this one.

"Maybe six klicks outta town, due west. What he looked like?" He scratched his chin thoughtfully, the motion drawing brief attention away from his other hand. "Pretty much like a cleaned-up me."

Kurai ignited, slipping sideways to take out both guards at the waist and only fractionally slowed by their armour. With two quick thrusts to the head, he finished them and stepped back.

Master, he called. Let's proceed. He'd asked Southstar to wait just outside, and hoped that the older Sith had done so. It wasn't as if Je'gan had been paying too much attention to anything other than his targets.

[Southstar]

Southstar watched from outside near a tree. He used the Force to cause the minds of the guards to completly miss him. He watched as they listened to Je'gan and he effectively fooled them. Je'gan cut the two down and began to walk through the gates while motioning to Southstar to follow. Southstar walked from his place near the tree and followed. He didn't even reach for his lightsaber, he would let Je'gan do the work on this one and he would grade the preformance.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A helpful map was one of the first things to catch his eye, flashing in the corner of the still-active desk terminal. It didn't show anything besides walls and doors and warm bodies, but that was far more than enough.

Let's see... Three others, all farther into the building. One, the closest, was heading this way at a reasonably fast pace.

He snuck a glance at the downed infantrymen, and almost swore. A tiny earpiece had fallen out and lay beside them. He vaulted the desk and retrieved their rifles, then went back behind the desk.

The map was still visible from this angle, so he knew exactly when the third guard cleared the door. Immediately both of the blaster rifles opened up. Splinters showered him as the side of the curved desk came completely apart. The map showed no change in position; wounded or dead, as infrared would pick up the body until it cooled. Probably wounded or dead. He pressed the triggers twice more apiece, then ducked his head to peer out the hole.

Yep. Definitely dead.

The other two were coming now, at the same rate and from roughly the same distance. These stayed back at the doorway, waiting...

This time he did swear, as the terminal shut down. Smart, these ones. He would have to rely on his danger sense.

He stretched out, waiting. A subtle spark alerted him, and immediately he opened up with both weapons on full automatic. A swift smile crossed his face; they no longer registered in the Force.

Within ten minutes, covered in dust, he was back outside and offering his Master a Sergeant's uniform. Dressed as a Lieutenant himself, he would technically 'outrank' Southstar...but as he explained, he was fully open to telepathic orders. The reasoning was simple; commissioned officers in planetary militaries were normally wealthy youngsters, while their Sergeants tended towards older veterans. As Southstar was a good bit older than him, it only made sense.

[Southstar]

"That was relatively quick." Southstar said and took the uniform while Je'gan explained why he would be a lower rank. The lightsabers didn't hide very easily under the uniforms, but well enough. Hopefully, they would only be out for a short time.

They had caught a military transport out to the base in the western hemisphere. With a little Force persuasion, it wasn't incredibly difficult. With the Force, they may be able to make it far enough in to find out where their man was, kill him, and get out without making enough noise to alert the whole military of their presence.

They passed through the gates, but before entering inside Southstar noted the base was facing te enemy planet, if the Osidians decided to lauch an attack, the base could be the first to be hit. He looked back ahead of himself and walked inside.

Telepathically he spoke to his apprentice, Je'gan, we need to find a list of who is where and kill this guy. I'm going to find the information and send it to you telepathically. In the meanwhile, make your way towards the barracks; maybe we can save some time.

Southstar seperated from Je'gan and headed towards where he thought the information might be kept. As a sergeant he may not be able to access some things, but he did have the Force. Finally, he found a computer witht he information stored on it. He ran a search and the name showed up. He sent the mental image of the screen to Je'gan, who should be near the location by now.

Then, something startled him. An alarm was blaring in the hallways and for a second, Southstar thought it might be due to the detection of intruders. He was wrong, the Osidians had launched an attack. The space battle was underway and carrier ships were making their way through space towards the nearest landing space on Kruthia. With Je'gan so close to the barracks he might get swept out into battle with the others. Hopefully, Je;gan would be able to take care of himself in battle.

OOC: Hey, I'm really sorry about the lack of posting as of late. I had my final exams for my first year at college and they proved to be much tougher than expected. On top of that I've caught some of the flu thats been going around.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je’gan did as he was instructed, albeit with the usual feelings of annoyance at being ordered around. Affecting an air of competence and professionalism, he began walking in a crisp military stride to the easily located barracks area. It was a reasonably large base, and moreover on the front lines; nobody should take amiss at seeing an officer they didn’t recognize.

A slow burn started, in preparation for the possibility of having to wield the Force. He was away from Southstar’s mind tricks, now. The only defences he had were the uniform-which, thanks to a man now comatose in a broom closet, had the correct insignia-and this air he was projecting. If he had to fight-in the middle of a military base-he would most likely die.

Biting his lip, the Sithling began to project something through the Force, an amalgam of all the mind tricks his new Master had used while on Kruthia. Normally he could have pulled off a simplified version of pretty much anything he saw done that many times, within reason, but this was different. He was actually attempting to alter the technique, a sure sign of failure if experience was any indication. But as he tried it, it seemed to work to some degree. People passed him in the halls, and instead of the natural surveying of an unknown comrade, they just walked on past. He wasn’t invisible, certainly, but it looked like he was repressing their curiosity. This was one trick he’d have to perfect.

A corner loomed ahead and he took it, entering a corridor with dozens, even hundreds of branches. He’d just have to wait here until-

Ah! That was Southstar; he’d gotten the map, and the image flashing through Je’gan’s head told him exactly where to find their prey. Sixth turn to the left, nineteenth door on the right.

The door hissed open at his command, and he found himself in a bunkroom, facing eight soldiers in various states of disarray. They gaped, to put it lightly, and two or three of them attempted to snap to attention. Detra was easily recognizable, catching up on sleep in the manner of new recruits.

“At ease,” he said coldly. The pressure of his sleeve around his right bicep told tale of Kurai, stored between the bone and the muscle itself. He’d deliberately chosen a slightly loose uniform, back at the supply depot. The lightsaber would slide out into his hand quite fast, with the proper motions and the release of the small-scale telekinetic grip that was helping hold it in place.

“Corporal Jaros Detra…” He walked over to the sleeping man. “Corporal-”

An alarm wailed and he jerked involuntarily. That was okay, though; so did everybody else. Detra himself awoke and started to climb out of bed, but was stopped by Je’gan’s arm. It must have seemed unfamiliar, the uniform and the face behind it, and certainly being startled out of one’s sleep would put anyone on the defensive. Whatever the reason, though, he lashed out at Je’gan with a blizzard of Teras Kasi.

And the young Sith was coming to realise that this man was good. Almost as good as he was. Reality began to return as he abandoned the Force-a matter of pride-and knocked the man a paralysing blow within six seconds. The fading colours and textures of the Force returned abruptly as he stepped back. The other seven were getting suited up and preparing to leave.

“On your feet, soldier.” Fighting off the brief paralysis, Detra obeyed, finally realizing ‘who’ he’d been fighting. As Je’gan remained silent, though, he began to get a good deal more nervous than simply ‘striking a superior officer’ could account for.

Ah well. Southstar was coming, or should be through all this chaos.

OOC/ No problem at all.

[Southstar]

"What are youo doing!?!" A man in uniform called to Southstar through an open doorway. "The Osidians are gonna be landing any minute now!"

Southstar stood up from his chair and slilently thanked his lucky stars the officer had not realized his ranking. Southstar jogged over to the man and he gave him a blaster rifle.

"Let's show them what we're made of, shall we?" He said to Southstar.

"We shall." He responded. Southstar followed the man to a large, indoor area. Men were lined up some shouting and screaming, ready for a fight. The top officer began to give a moving speech about dying for your homeland. Then Southstar realized where he was, the frontlines he desperatly tried to avoid. He cursed to himself and felt his lightsaber beneath his clothing. He was going to need it.

The officer finished up and retreated to the side where he would likely stay while the fighting was going on. Then a young man startled Southstar. "I can't find my group, sir. What do I do?" Southstar looked into the panic stricken eyes of the young man.

He spoke to the man, no boy. "Just... Just follow me." The boy protested by Southstar persuaded him with the Force. THe gates opened and a field surrounded with forest became viable. Several ships began to set down and the Osidians poured out bent on taking the base. Southstar got a good look at one, they were about eight feet tall and covered with scales. The likely had claws and possibly a poisoned bite. It was a wonder they hadn't ended this war already. The men charged out of the bay; Southstar was in the back with the boy right behind him.

The two armies met stopped about 40 feet from each other and began to open fire. Some of the Osidians were trying to get closer to bring the fight to close combat, where they clearly had the edge.

Southstar shot at a few and deflected a myriad of blaster bolts with the Force. Again he cursed and Charged forward to the front where there weren't any Kruthians in his way. He shot and killed a few more Osidians, the boy next to him fired as well, but usually missed.

A blaster bolt flew past his head and hit the young man next to him in the face. Quickly he threw up a shield and looked at the boy laying on the ground. His face was a burnt mess but somehow it seemed to be healing rapidly. He turned his attention back to the battle and soon the boy jined him, fully healed. Killing Jaros was going to be tougher than anticipated.

Southstar thought back to Je'ganand ealized that he must be somewhere in the battle, along with Jaros, if he wasn't dead yet. He searched the minds of the fighters while trying to avoid being killed. It was going to take a while. Hopefully in this battle, Je;gan was still alive and hadn't lost track of Jaros.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Even through the cabin's door, Je'gan could hear armoured feet and shrieking alarms, verifying that combat was indeed imminent, and nearby. Briefly he considered killing Detros here and now, but this was Southstar's mission, and if anyone was going to collect on it, it would be his Master.

He wavered, on the verge of deciding to remain in this room, then decided against it. If the Osidians won the battle, this base would be overrun and he would be trapped.

And better not to have variables.

"I'm a Sith, Detra," he growled, slipping Kurai out of his sleeve and igniting the dark, blue-gray blade. "I have no wish to harm you, and no wish to be trapped here should your enemies prevail. So we're going to fight."

Detra nodded, just nodded once and remained silent. Now that was composure. Je'gan tapped the door's keypad once and led the man out and down a corridor, away from the main battle. All he'd heard indicated that these people and their enemies may have been angry, but they certainly weren't stupid. Nobody with any brains at all sent their entire force against one side of a fortress in open ground.

Meaning there was a sneak attack coming from this direction.

Past the picket lines he ran, wielding weak mind-tricks haphazardly and using his uniform when that failed. More than a few men got in his way, and he was forced to knock them out for long enough to get by.

At last he reached the open forest, and instantly felt a growing danger in the back of his mind. Trusting the Force, he slunk farther, and Detra followed after, brandishing a blaster rifle taken off an unconscious guard.

They crept down a gulley, and the Force spoke to the young Sith. He looked at Detra, pointed at the rifle, and then at a small clump of bushes. The man was certainly no idiot nor slouch with a gun. An armoured, serpentine figure tumbled out.

"Get behind me!" Je'gan barked, as more figures began to rise from bushes. He ignited Kurai again and waved it for effect. They stopped their slow creep, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing...

Proven, as a storm of blasterfire leapt at him.

[Southstar]

The wave of Osidians seemed as if it were growing on its own. Before too long, there would be more Osidians than Kruthians and the base would be overrun. More importantly, as time went by, the chances of Southstar escaping with Je'gan got slimmer.

Southstar reached for his lightsaber and ignighted it, the navy blue blade snapping from the hilt in an instant. He deflected a few shots from the Osidians with it and moved forward into no man's land. Force shields managed to hold off most of the shots. Soon enough a plan formulated in his head.

He charged across no man'sland, deflecting shots with both his lightsaber and the Force. He charged into the Osidians cutting one down with his lightsaber and kicking another in its long snout. Using the Force to amplify his speed and strength, Southstar stayed one step ahead of the Osidians around him. With the Kruthians still shooting, too many Osidians couldn't be distracted to Southstar as he made his way down the line towards where the ships were dropping more soldiers off.

He finally made it to the ships, notably one that was just finishing dropping its load off. Southstar, battered and brusied, jumped into the ship and with the Force he killed the cells in the pilots hearts. It was a good trick and very effective, but it drained Southstar of his energy. But it should be fine, if everything went to plan.

He climbed into the pilots chair and did his best to get the ship moving. His mind had finally found Je'gan, who was with Jaros. He quickly directed the ship in the direction. It would only be a moment before they were off planet with Jaros' head on a plate.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The first thing necessary to deflect a blaster bolt, he'd learned what seemed like ages ago, was to surrender entirely to the Dark Side, let it flow through you. His few real-life experiences with this confirmed it. Thus, he surrendered, and felt a sort of incredulous joy as the bolts began to come at him.

Deflect, dodge. Deflect, dodge. He still wasn't terribly practised at this, but he was agile. The lizards were making little headway. Detra was taking them out from behind his unlikely ally with precision blasts of automatic fire.

A loud explosion rocked all present, and from the shadows around him Je'gan knew that something massive, a building perhaps, had just evaporated behind him. The main attack was into the base, then. Only these few Osidians were any hazard.

The blasterfire behind him stopped. His danger senses flared, and he spun, neatly taking off a serpentine head. Detra was unconscious and wounded, leaking blood onto the forest floor. Another Osidian was in striking distance; ruthlessly, Je'gan battered at his mind, ripping out sanity and motor control.

Bad, bad mistake. Not only did it nearly drain him, but he'd momentarily forgotten those behind him. Three blaster bolts came at him, and a vague sense of danger told him to leap before he'd even seen the hazard. One bolt missed entirely, but the other two took away his entire left tricep. He fell, trying at once to shunt away the awesome pain and to pretend to be as oblivious as Detra. It worked, the warriors approached, and Kurai ignited in his hand on the third setting. Two were spitted and another cloven in two as he rolled and sat up.

They'd gotten to close. His mind barely registered the mistake, or the luck that had saved his life. All he could do was turn and watch the last Osidian run to join his comrades as they pilalged the base.

Southstar...

[Southstar]

Some of the Osidians had realized that the ship had been stolen and began to fire on it. The shields held up against most of the blasts as Southstar piloted the ship towards Je'gan.

Southstar spoke to Je'gan telepathically. I don't want to stick around any longert than I have to. If you're in range of Detra, kill him and bring the body with you. I've got a ship and I should be in your area any minute now.

Another blast hit the shields and the ship rattled. "Come on, come on..." Southstar said to himself. Then he saw Je'gan defending himself from the few Osidians that were in the field outside the base. He set the ship close to the ground and yelled to Je'gan. "Get to the guns in the back and see what you can do about those fighters."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Kurai swept around blurringly fast. Detra was good; he ducked and brought up his blaster's muzzle. The lightsaber's tip dipped and Je'gan performed a fencing-style lunge. The blaster vanished in a plume of sparks, folowed instantly thereafter by Detra's hands, portions of his forearms, and his heart's left ventricle.

Panting, out of breath, Je'gan deactivated his weapon and dragged the body up into the gunship. The smell of blood both nauseated and oddly invigorated him.

"I'll do what I can, Master," he yelled back, going to the aforementioned guns. The design was odd, patterned after a physique with a tail and a large height advantage, but overall it didn't take long before those few fighters strafing them were beginning to fall in flames.

[Southstar]

Southstar did his best to pilot the ship and avoid as much fire as possible. Meanwhile he looked back to see Detras body laying still in the cargo bay. He then looked out his window, portions of the base were in flames as Osidians continually stormed in. Then he noticed something in the skies, fighters and a few bombers, different than the Osidian style.

Southstar cursed as the fighters locked on, fortunatly the Osidians took aim on the bombers instead of them. He sent the ship into a dive and then up again, from side to side, yet the ship rattled from a few shots that hit them. Then he heard something fall down int he cargo area.

It was Detra, still alive due to the rapid regeneration their species had. Southstar couldn't just leave the controls, he needed to ge tthis thing into space and then to hyperspace, intact and as soon as possible. That left Je'gan, who wasn't yet a knight, to take on a foe that was experienced, as well as seemingly undefeatable.

"Looks like you're going to have to prove your worth, Je'gan. Detra's still alive, its some regeneration thing they have going on. I'm busy so its up to you to kill him before he kills us both." Southstar said over the comm.

He lanced back to the cargo hold and saw Detra standing up, his hands were nearly finished, then something caught his eye. A variety of weapons were lined up against the wall, in case one of the Osidians weapons was defective.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He's alive.

That's not possible.

Mumbling imprecations, the young man slithered out of the gun turret, wincing at the still-awful pain of having a large chunk of his upper arm evaporated. He was so fatigued as to be incapable of using the Force in any manner, but his mind was still clear and physically he hadn't exerted much.

For the moment, Je'gan decided to put aside all question of how he'd survived having a section of his heart pulverized. Detra, hopefully, was in a similar situation; it was likely that this regeneration was taking a lot out of him.

And if that turned out not to be the case...there was always Kurai.

The short corridor turned ahead, entering the cargo bay that divided the cockpit from the aft quarters where Je'gan currently was. He paused just before the turn and brought up his lightsaber, though it was not yet active. The Force, his spirit fatigued, had deserted him. He had little skill in Sensing as it was. Instead, he focused his attention on sound.

A tiny click brought him spinning out into the bay, dodging blaster fire for all he was worth. Detra was backing away, unloading from a pair of repeaters on full automatic. A bolt got through, then another and another, and though he didn't know quite how, Je'gan knew that he was on the floor, in Detra's sights, and as good as dead. The man didn't approach; he knew how far Kurai's third setting could reach, and he was no idiot.

I don't fear death, he'd said once, a long time ago. No...not that long. A few months, no more. He'd said that on one of the many occasions in which he'd almost lost his life, to a Sith Knight of the Krath.

Cherice...

How is it possible, he said to himself, that I'm afraid when I'm at Detra's mercy, and I wasn't when Cherice's blade was beside my throat?

How?

Maybe I'm wiser?

But all question was cut off as Detra turned and headed through the door towards the cockpit. Smart move. Southstar was the main target.

That is not going to happen.

New energy set him moving, energy borne of anger. He'd felt power like this but rarely; when Zatania had kidnapped him, when he'd fought Dark Jedi with Satine Capashen, and a few other times. This wasn't simply the incentive of ambition that had kept him going ever since he first saw Corell burning. This was the Dark Side of the Force.

And he was a Sith.

Kurai flew from his hand, coordination perfect despite the shrieking anguish that threatened to rip sanity from him. His thumb brushed three levers; the setting control, the on/off, and the lock. The blade shot out, but it wasn't the nearly two-metre, slate-grey setting. Instead, a dark, blue-grey short-sword emerged, short enough that there was little risk of it damaging anything behind the walls as it went on its way.

Detra was good. He heard the hum and swivelled, blasters seeking a target. Three bolts turned the deck to slag inches from Je'gan's face, an instant before Kurai swept Detra's head form his shoulders. The Force-grip released and the lightsaber deactivated. Je'gan crawled to his feet, picked up a large blaster rifle, and turned Detra's body to cinders.

"Let's see you survive that..." he muttered through numbing lips, before collapsing to sit against the bulkhead.

"Got him, Master. Got him..."

[Southstar]

"Yes, yes you did." Southstar said and glanced at Detra. From Detra to the data on the mainboard Southstar notice some of the fighters were letting them go. Then he noticed that massive air ships were being dropped to the world's surface, the Kruthians could afford to let the single carrier ship go.

The ship entered space and Southstar plotted the hyperspace coordinates. Back to see the Hutts and get their credits. The ship broke into hyperspace and Southstar turned around to face Je'gan.

"That was a hell of a couple of days." He said and realized it felt like they were there for weeks. "I'd say you did pretty good, for an apprentice." He stopped his praise there, too much of it would make Je'gan cocky. "Any thoughts?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"One..." He craned his neck around the edge of the door to meet his Master's gaze. "I...left my dirk in our prison. I've had that dirk for years..." He smiled a bit and blacked out.